


Their Joyful Tone

by teacupsandtime



Series: Carol Of The Bells [2]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Sexual Content, Will Graham & Beverly Katz Friendship, Will Graham Loves Dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 10:37:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17099003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teacupsandtime/pseuds/teacupsandtime
Summary: Following Hannibal's holiday party, Will has Hannibal over to his home for the first time.





	Their Joyful Tone

 

_So have you given up and just burned everything to the ground?_

Will sighed and pressed his lips together, taking the phone in both of his hands to text back. 

_Not helping._

Looking up from the screen, he moved his eyes slowly around his living room, his legs back against his bed. 

The phone in his hands vibrated again.

_You need to relax, Graham. What possible horrors are you imagining will unfold?_

The room seemed bigger with all the dog beds hidden away in a closet; the occupants of said beds sniffed around the newly revealed floor. 

_That he’s dating a freak who sleeps in his living room?_

In the months they’d been seeing each other, Will had shrugged off Hannibal’s gentle attempts at coming over to his house. The older man would always drop the subject in the moment but return to it at a later date. As Will left his home the morning after Hannibal’s holiday party he’d kissed him goodbye and asked to spend Christmas Eve with him. At his own home. 

Will had accepted and had since been agonizing over it. 

_You told me the other night you two were interested in each other’s minds or some equally nauseating, sappy crap. Did you lie to me?_

As he positioned his thumbs to compose a response, he heard a car moving down his long driveway. Walking to the window, he saw the dark green Bentley pull up near the house and come to a stop. 

_Gotta go._

He felt the phone vibrate again shortly after he put in in his pocket but ignored it as he looked to the dogs.

“Hey, sit,” he said as wagging tails hit the floor. “Everybody, sit.”

One by one the pack all did as they were told and with a deep breath, Will opened the door just as Hannibal reached it. He was dressed in a long black coat, his hair parted but loose in his face; in his hands were several covered dishes balanced atop one another.

“Hey.”

“Hello.” 

Will reached out to take some of the dishes from him and moved back so Hannibal could step inside. The younger man motioned for him to follow him back to his kitchen, telling the dogs to stay as they went. They placed everything on the counter and Hannibal undid the buttons of his coat, revealing a deep red, thick sweater and black slacks. Will reached out and grabbed one of the wool lapels before he could slide it off. Leaning in, his kissed him chastely on the mouth. 

“Hey.”

Hannibal smiled. 

“Hello.”

As Hannibal shrugged his coat off, Will motioned for him to follow back into the main room where all the dogs were waiting patiently. Taking his coat from him, Will hung it on the rack by the door. He turned around and found Hannibal staring at the seven curious canines gathered in the room. 

“This is everybody,” Will said, motioning to them.

Stepping forward, Hannibal extended an arm downwards and waited as each dog approached and sniffed at his hand, tails wagging as they did. Will introduced them all by name as they came forward. Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket again he reached down and flipped the switch to silent. Hannibal had straightened, his eyes moving around the room and stopping at the piano. He approached it, mindful of curious paws. 

“Do you play?”

Will stepped towards him. 

“No,” he answered. “Came with the house.” 

Lifting the wooden cover, the black and white keys were revealed. 

“May I?”

Will nodded, watching as Hannibal tapped a few keys with his index finger before placing both hands over the expanse of the keyboard and played a quick scale. 

“Surprisingly in tune for being neglected.” 

Moving away, he continued his survey of Will’s home his eyes coming to rest on the bed in the corner. 

“Do you sleep downstairs?”

Will followed his gaze for a moment before he nervously grabbed at the back of his neck. 

“I do, yeah,” he said with a slight laugh. “I uh, I don’t really know why but when I moved in I just never felt . . . comfortable upstairs. I started sleeping down here on a couch and then that turned into getting rid of it and just moving the bed down here. And then the dogs came and I - I like having them around at night and there wasn’t room for all of them in the bedroom upstairs.”

“You feel safer here, on the ground floor. Surrounded by familiar things.” 

“Yeah, I suppose so.” 

Hannibal came towards him, reached down and took his hands in his own. 

“Thank you for having me here.”

Will smiled and leaned in, kissing him again, their hands locked between their bodies. 

“How long will you need in the kitchen?”

“An hour and a half,” he answered. “Perhaps a bit less.”

“What are you making me?”

Hannibal kissed him again.

“A surprise,” he whispered.

Will respected Hannibal’s wish to stay out of his own kitchen and came in only when called to help the older man locate the pan or utensil he needed, finding himself shooed away after. Will sat in one of his armchairs and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

_Ooh, is he there?_

_Relax, it’s gonna go great._

Smiling, Will texted Beverly back. 

_Yeah he’s here. So far no horrors._

He leaned back into the chair, losing himself in the sounds and smells coming from the kitchen. Will had dozed off when Hannibal woke him up with a gentle hand on his shoulder and told him dinner was nearly ready. 

Will set the small table off of the kitchen and sat as Hannibal asked, watching as he brought in several small dishes. Once everything was on the table, he placed pieces of each on Will’s plate and filled his wine glass. He made his own plate and took a seat across from him. 

He gestured to each dish:

Herring and beet salad. Potato dumplings with pork. A thinly sliced beef roll. 

All traditional foods of Lithuania. 

“Do you miss it there?” Will asked as he cut into a dumpling. 

“No,” Hannibal answered. “Not especially. Though I do often think of my childhood there during this time of year. And of my sister.” 

Will swallowed the food in his mouth and took a quick sip of his wine. 

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Hannibal smiled softly. 

“She’s dead,” he said. 

“Oh,” Will responded. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” he answered. “She died long ago, when we were both children. I have very fond memories of her at Christmas.” 

Will watched his face change, his eyes seeming to look elsewhere. 

“What was her name?”

Hannibal’s gaze came back to him. 

“Mischa.” 

They ate together in silence for a bit, Will navigating to all the dishes on his plate and taking in their taste. When their conversation started back up, it was of the FBI, a nameless patient of Hannibal’s who was clearly infatuated with him, and the adoption stories of all of Will’s dogs. When dinner was over they cleared the table and moved into the kitchen.

“No dessert?” Will joked lightly, his cheeks warm and belly full. 

“I have in fact brought you something sweet but I’m unsure if it’s best to eat it now.”

Will cocked his head. 

“What do you mean?”

“It depends on if you envisioned us having sex tonight.” 

Will stopped breathing - confusion registering on his face. 

“Only that the meal we just shared was quite heavy,” Hannibal explained. “And I’ve brought you a very rich chocolate tart which I made this morning.’

He stepped towards him and placed a hand on the side of his neck. 

“If you wanted to be intimate this evening, I wouldn’t care to put you to sleep.” 

Will could feel the color rising in his face as Hannibal’s fingers rubbed his skin. His heart was beating faster in his chest, his body responding to the feel of Hannibal’s hands and the implication of his words. 

“Let’s skip it,” he breathed. 

Grinning, Hannibal released him and picked up his wine glass, moving back into the living room and towards the piano. 

“Wonderful,” he said. “Would you mind if I played something?”

Will shook his head, petting the top of Winston’s head as he trotted by. 

Taking a seat at the bench, Hannibal rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and played a few scales. Will watched as one by one the dogs approached him and stared, ears twitching at the new sound. Hannibal’s fingers began to move rhythmically and effortlessly across the keys, the strings of the piano striking out Carol of the Bells. Drinking the last of his wine, Will placed the glass on the nearby shelf and came up behind him, resting his hands on Hannibal’s shoulders as the music continued uninterrupted. 

Hannibal’s long fingers continued dancing over the white and black keys until a gentle howl broke through. Both men turned their heads in the direction of the sound, Hannibal continuing to play as Winston howled again. Then Buster. Then Zoë. Soon, all seven were chiming in, offering howls and barks until the sound of the piano could no longer be heard. 

Hannibal stopped playing and leaned back into the man behind him who was shaking with laughter. 

“Your dogs are quite the critics.” 

Will leaned down, draping his body over Hannibal’s, and wrapped his arms around his chest. He kissed his cheek and pulled him to his feet.

“They just know something good when they hear it.”

Will kissed him then, his hands moving into the hair at the back of his head as Hannibal’s own came around his waist and pulled him closer. The wet sounds of their lips played against the click of hard nails on wood and the tinkle of metal tags. Hannibal bent his knee as a dog came to rub up against him. Pulling back, Will tugged at the front of his sweater.

“Take me to bed now.”

Hannibal was happy to oblige, smiling as Will led them back to his small bed in the corner of the room. They undressed each other between kisses, clothes falling to the floor. They came to their knees on the mattress briefly before Will fell to his back, opening his legs for Hannibal to lay between them. There were lips at his neck, his chest, his navel, breath just over his cock.

As Will prepared to plead, he turned his head and found several pairs of curious eyes on him. 

“Hey.” 

The dogs all snapped to attention and Hannibal looked up from between his legs. 

“Not you,” Will laughed. “I’m sorry. Hang on.” 

Sliding out from under Hannibal’s weight, Will gestured for the dogs to join him by the back door, opening it and watching as they excitedly ran outside into the cold. Running his hands up his naked arms, he joined Hannibal back in bed.

“Will they be all right out there?”

“They’ll be fine,” Will said. “They won’t run off.”

Will lunged, finding his mouth again and aggressively kissing him.

“What do you want, Will?”

Will ran his hands up the broad expanse of Hannibal’s naked chest, remembering how surprised he was when he first saw it stripped of Italian finery. 

“Just you.” 

They fell back together, bodies and mouths tangling until Will broke away to retrieve the small bottle from the nightstand and pushed it into Hannibal’s hand. He turned and laid flat on his stomach, his body tingling from anticipation until Hannibal finally came back to him, hands on his hips as he slowly pushed inside. Will sighed and rested his face on the mattress.

“Come closer.” 

Dropping, Hannibal came to rest his elbows on the mattress by Will’s ears, his chest pressed flush against his back. They moved together slowly, Hannibal’s mouth finding Will’s ear.

“Lift your hips.” 

He did.

Hannibal kept one hand near Will’s head while the other reached underneath him to grab at the hard flesh there. Will groaned and pushed into it as their pace increased and became more insistent. Hannibal halted the motion of his hips when he felt Will shudder under him, his hand becoming wet. Will’s ragged breathing drew him back close, his lips finding his cheek as he carefully pulled out and took himself in hand. Hannibal moved his wrist quickly, his palm slick with Will’s release. It was only a moment before he groaned and came over Will’s backside. As he moved to roll away, Will reached behind him and pulled him back down, encouraging him to rest the full weight of his spent body on his back. 

Time stalled.

There were lazy kisses draped across Will’s shoulder blades and a sticky hand at his hip. 

When they finally separated, Will reached down and grabbed Hannibal’s sweater from where it lay on the floor, pulling it over his head and moving to the backdoor. He opened it and ushered all the dogs inside, the pack happily bounding back into the living room. Opening the closet, Will grabbed their numerous beds and spaced them out on the floor before returning to his own where Hannibal had slipped under the covers and was waiting for him. 

Will pulled the sweater over his head and tossed it back to the floor before crawling into the bed, pushing himself against Hannibal’s naked body and resting his head against his chest. Hannibal’s hand came to play in his hair. 

“Will you stay tomorrow?”

Hannibal sighed.

“I would love nothing more than to spend Christmas Day with you.”

Will turned so he could kiss his chest before he settled again. He felt everything around him grow soft and warm. Secure. 

“I usually take the dogs on a long walk in the morning. Would you like to join us?” 

“I would. And then I’d like to make you breakfast.” 

“Mmm, what did you have in mind?”

Hannibal ran his hand down the length of Will’s back, pushing him closer and closer towards a heavy sleep. 

“Chocolate tart and coffee.” 

**Author's Note:**

> [What I envisioned Hannibal playing on the piano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc2taOIxV_M).


End file.
